by Jimi Alan
“This is where the freshman classes are held.” Giles told them. “With a few in the staircase as well.”
He walked with them towards the end of the hall. Alice through the hall felt a little more lively with some students sitting on the benches. She guessed after the tour, Madam Highfield let the students explore the wing. She felt bad for not staying with the group.
They reached the staircase at the end of the hall. It seemed more fancy with metal beams on each step. Alice walked up the steps with her friends following Giles ahead of them.
In the staircase, Alice walked out into a large hallway. She looked over Justin’s head to see the hallway looked the same as before. Alice wondered if all the hallways on the upper floors were the same. She looked over her shoulder at Gloria, wondering if she had an explanation.
Giles sighed. “Most of the school is bewitched. With spells older than any wizard or witch that lives. It’s a truly magical place to be.”
Lucia said. “So. We’re not getting punished for skipping out on the tour.”
The group stared at Giles, waiting for his reply. “I’ll show you around, like I did with the rest of the students who decided to take a detour, which is really common. In my freshman year, I took stipped the tour.”
“Really?” Gloria seemed shocked. “I would've never guessed.”
Lucia sighed. “My mom will hear about this anyways. She’s probably gonna give me detention.”
Giles smirked. “You must be Lucia Monroe.”
“Yup, that’s me.” Lucia proudly charmed.
“You’re mother is one of the heads of the academy.” Giles reminded her. “She’s a bit busy with the third year class. One of the students turned another one into a frog, which is different not allowed.”
Alice was puzzled. “That can happen.”
“If your not trained in the art of spell casting.” Giles said. “But don’t worry. None of you even have wands yet.”
The group kept on walking as Alice placed her hands in her pocket. She touched her finger onto her wand. Alice guessed it was unusual for a freshman to obtain a wand before they attend this academy.
“Here we are.” Giles said as he came to a stop.
Alice looked at the door in front of them. The door was wooden with three handprints laid out across it. Three wooden plates like signs stood above each of the handprints.
Giles told them. “Gloria, Alice and Lucia. This room is yours. We normally fit three or four students in each room, but you three are the last so enjoy the extra space.”
He walked away from the door with Justin following behind him. Giles didn’t say a word about how to unlock the door. The three of them looked puzzled as they wondered how to open it.
Lucia held her hand out to the door. She placed her hand onto the handprint carving on the door in front of her. On the plate of wood a letter ‘L’ appeared. It shimmered for a second before staining into the wood.
Alice was amazed. She guessed the door was locked by their hand prints. Alice rose her hand out of her pocket.
Nervously holding her hand up to the door, Alice felt a warmth from the handprint carved in the door. The plate above her hand began to glow, making an ‘A’ inside the plate of wood above her hand. Alice smiled up at the letter.
Gloria smiled. “Let’s do this.”
She sound pumped as her hand laid flat on the carved handprint. Above her hand, the plate of wood began to glow. A letter ‘G’ appeared on the plate of wood. The door creaked open, pulling away from the three girls.
On the other side of the door, Alice peeked her head inside. She saw a small room with four beds in each corner. Alice noticed each of the beds had suitcases beside them, except for the spare one in the corner.
Her eyes glowed as she spotted her suitcase beside the bed with a window beside the bedside. Alice took a step towards her suitcase. Her hand slid on the zipper, catching a glimpse of the lake outside the window. Alice realized how stunning the mountain range of the rockies felt around the school. A magical place was not the right word she was searching for, mystical.
“So.” Gloria blurted out as the door to their dorm closed. She sat on the edge of her bed. “I’m so glad that we got a room together.”
Alice thought for a moment, placing her hand nervously in her pants pocket. She felt her fingertips touch the handle of the wand in her pocket. Alice knew what she had to say.
“I know what you mean.” Lucia smirked, pulling her suitcase onto her bed. She started unpacking her things. “It would be weird sharing a room with strangers we just met.”
“Well.” Gloria reminded Lucia. “You do have your sister.”
“That’s true.” Lucia told her. “But we haven’t shared a room in so many years.”
Alice brushed her hand across the zipper on her suitcase. She thought of all the questions she had rowling around in her head. Alice tugged on the zipper of her suitcase.
Looking around the room, Lucia and Gloria started placing their clothes in the cupboards beside their beds. Alice saw the small side table beside her bed. She placed her clothes in the dresser draw of the side table next to her bed, hoping they would help this strange academy feel more like home.
“You have a lot of thoughts.” Gloria told Alice. “But that’s a bit normal if you ask me.”
“What.” Alice felt puzzled by what Gloria said. “You can hear them.”
“Kind of.” Gloria kept placing her things on the shelves next to her bed. “It’s a bit more complicated than that.”
Alice through Gloria was pulling her leg. She had a feeling, Gloria had answered many of her questions and said a few things that made her seem off. Alice wondered if she was joking with her.
“That’s cool.” Lucia turned around to face Gloria. “I always wanted to meet a reader.’
“It’s not like I’m reading though.” Gloria corrected her. “I’m not that strong, yet.” She winked slightly at Alice.
Lucia folded her a sweater she pulled out of her suitcase. Alice noticed a crest on the back of the sweater. She thought it was strange how fast Lucia tucked the sweater away, like she was embarrassed to have such a thing.
They kept setting up their room, placing clothes on the shelves and draws around the room. Alice hoped her clothing were appropriate attire for such a prestigious academy. She placed her last shirt onto the shelving unit next to the foot of her bed. Closing the door on her closet as she sat on her bed.
Gloria smiled as she laid on her bed. “You have something in your pocket, don’t you?”
Alice felt her cheeks beginning to blush. She knew Gloria heard what she had said about the wand. Her hands quickly left her pockets, folding on her lap. She hoped Lucia would say something.
Lucia said. “What are you going on about?”
“A wand.” Gloria’s eyes light up with joy. “It’s in her pocket.”
“It was my fathers.” Alice muttered, tucking her hair behind her ear. “I found it, recently.”
“You found a wand.” Lucia seemed intrigued by the news. “We aren’t supposed to have a wand.”
Gloria told them. “Not until we graduate the first year class.”
“Oh.” Alice thought it was strange for a bunch of wizards and witches to not have such a basic item in their hands. “Why?”
“Because.” Gloria seemed excited. “We need to make a wand for our final exam.”
“Only those who graduate from the first year class gets to keep the wand they made.” Lucia sat on her bed. “If you fail at making a wand, then you don’t go forward with your studies.”
Alice placed her hand into her pocket. She slid the handle of her father’s wand out of her pocket. Alice wondered why her father would want her to attend a school, where her final year test would be to make a wand to replace his. She thought it was cruel.
“But.” Alice wondered. “What if your just not able to make a wand?”
“It’s pretty basic.” Gloria told her. “You mix a few ingred
ients and pick a tree you would like to be the base. My brother said it was loads of fun.”
Lucia proudly smiled. “I can’t wait to make myself one. It would be so cool to have such power at the tip of my fingers.”
“Power?” Alice was confused.
Gloria explained. “A witch and wizard needs a wand to control the magic they possess. Most none magica users also have small amounts of magic in them, so they can also use a wand.”
“But it’s harder for them.” Lucia added. “Not being a pure blood can be a challenge.”
Alice thought being a witch was all spells and potions. She had no idea how special she was to be able to have her father's wand to help her on the way.
“Can we see it?” Gloria asked, hoping to see the wand Alice had.
Looking down at her hand, Alice slid her hand out of her pocket. She gripped onto the handle of her father’s wand. Remembering the word written on the letter, as she held her father’s wand away from her.
She muttered the word. “Impendam.”
The word flowed out of her lips. In her hand, the wand expanded with the wild black point reaching out before her. Alice looked up from her father’s wand to see the stunned look on their face. She saw they both looked mortified.
“Um.” Lucia seemed shocks. “You found that wand?”
“Well.” Alice placed the wand onto her bed. She looked away from a moment as she said. “It was in a letter for me.”
“Your father is Jacob Corey.” Gloria seemed to be piecing Alice’s family tree together in her head. “And your mother is…” She searched for her mother’s name, hoping to get it. “Martina, right?”
“So.” Alice wondered what Gloria was trying to get at.
“Your mother’s Martina Corey.” The way Lucia said Alice’s mother’s name made Alice worried. She had never heard someone sound so impressed by her mother. Alice thought no one knew her.
“The Martina Corey.” Lucia said. “Like the caster?”
Flowing out of Lucia’s mouth, ‘caster’ seemed like a word to be impressed. Alice looked over at Gloria who was not surprised by the news. She guessed, Gloria had already pieced together the pieces on her own.
Gloria nodded. “Yes, her mother is Martina Corey.”
Lucia’s eyes widened. “Are you a caster too?”
The way Lucia looked at her made Alice feel embarrassed. She never thought her mother was someone important. Alice had no idea who her mother was, besides what her aunt told her. She seemed boring and plain, like the kind of mother who would bake cookies for a bake sale as her proudest accomplishment.
Alice sighed. “I don’t know what that even means.”
Standing up from her bed, Alice filled with anxe. She crossed her arms over her chest with a fire inside her. Alice knew Lucia was just impressed by the mother Alice barely knew. She looked out the window at the lake, calming her mind from her emotions.
Gloria seemed to known was to ask. “Have you ever made something float?”
“With your mind?” Lucia added. “But you thought of it happening before it did.”
“No.” Alice took a minute to think. She shook her head as nothing came to mind. “Why? What would that mean?”
“Caster’s are strong magical witches and wizards.” Gloria told her. “Our parents all sit on the council, right.” She made sure that Alice was following what she was saying.
Alice looked over her shoulder. “Ok.”
“The council are mostly strong wizards and witches.” Gloria explained to her. “The leader was your mother, Martina Corey.”
Lucia charmed in. “She was the first ever female caster to have sat at the head of the council.”
“So.” Alice thought out loud. “Female casters are rare.”
“Yeah.” Gloria said. “And they are stronger than any pure blood witch or wizard.”
“And they can do powerful spells.” Lucia seemed to be blown away by what she pieced together. “Like spells that aren’t even made yet, kind of powerful.”
For a moment, Alice thought about her mother. She wondered why her mother, a powerful caster could have been killed in a house fire. Alice had a feeling, maybe her parents deaths were not just another strange accident.
“Can a caster catch a house on fire?” Alice wondered.
Gloria said. “Fire spells are easy. Trying not to get burned, that’s a bit harder.”
“Why.” Lucia noticed the look on Alice’s face as she looked back at the lake. “What are you thinking?”
Alice looked down at the lake. She felt drawn to it, like something was telling her to rush towards it. Her mind was telling her it was chilly outside for a dip in the lake. She would come out as a popsicle.
“My parents.” She looked away from the lake. “They died in a fire.”
Gloria said. “You don’t think.”
“Yes.” Alice faced her friends. “Yes I do.”
Lucia sighed. “What’s going on?”
“I think.” Alice told her new friends. “My parents deaths were not an accident. And neither was me getting my father’s wand.”
She walked towards her bed, touching her hand onto the wand. Alice noticed how the wand was back to being just the handle again. She had a connection to it, like the wand knew she was her father’s daughter. She wondered how a piece of a stick would know such a thing.
The next day came faster than Alice thought. She rushed down the staircase, hoping to get to her class before the teacher closed the door. Alice’s sneakers squeaked through the doorway, as she reached her desk just in time.
Marching into the door, Madam Highfield looked displeased. She stormed up to her desk in the front of her room. Her hair was pulled back with her sunglasses missing from her face. She wore a black jacket over a purple shirt with black pants heading to her purple high heels on her feet.
Standing before the class, Madam Highfield stood beside her desk. Looking over the heads of each and every first year student in her class. She glanced up at the roof, raising her hands up to the ceiling.
In her hand, Alice noticed a wand. Madam Highfield held a white wooden wand with a spiraling silver lined with red stopping before the stainless steel handle. Alice wondered what kind of teacher would make such an appealing wand, when she was fourteen. She guessed Madam Highfield was nothing like when she was Alice’s age. The way she dressed, made her seem composed and elegant. In a way Alice could not imagine herself to be.
Madam Highfield’s hands lowered with her wand. The ceiling in the classroom shimmered as the word ‘videtur’ flowed over her lips. The spiraling silver on her wind dazzled for a second as the ceiling began to change.
White and dowl the arched ceiling became with a white line going down the room from Madam Highfield’s desk to the doors at the back. She looked down from the ceiling with the student’s eyes following her gaze. They looked at her with a smile on her face.
Madam Highfield told them. “As you all should know from yesterday. I am Madam Highfield, the professor of Magical History and Historical Past. I will go over all of the most prime and unknown historic events that have happened to change the magical world we know and love.”
Alice wondered what was the big deal. She knew Salem had witch trials and anything she wanted to know would be in the history section of the library. Alice crossed her arms over her chest as she leaned back in her wooden chair at her school desk.
“We have all heard about the council.” Madam Highfield looked out at the students. “Who can tell me how the council was formed?”
Looking out at the students, Madam Highfield recognized the look on Alice’s face. She wondered who she was, thinking her class was boring. Smirking slightly Madam Highfield pointed her finger without her wand at Alice.
Alice sat up in her chair. “Um. Me.”
She looked over her shoulder at Gloria who had her hand raised up to the ceiling. The teacher clearly knew Alice had no idea what the answer to her question was. She nodded her head, wa
iting for Alice to answer her question.
Alice sighed. “I don’t know.”
“Oh.” Madam Highfield said. “Then sit back and take notes. Gloria.”
The teacher’s eyes looked at Gloria, who sat up in her desk next to Alice with delight. She lowered her hand, with a smile on her face. Gloria obviously was hoping to get pick before Madam Highfield picked Alice.
Gloria smiled. “The council was formed to oversee all magical creatures. And were made up of the twelve pure magical families who lived around that time.”
“And the council has been shrinking ever since then.” Madam Highfield winked at Gloria, with a slight delight tone in her voice. “That’s what I expect from the sister of Giles Parker.”
Madam Highfield walked away from her desk. She folded her hands behind her back and took a smile on her back. Madam Highfield paced down the corridor of deck as she lectured the class.
“The council originally had twelve members, one member for each of the magical families who lived nearby.” Madam Highfield walked back to her desk. “They kept the humans from discovering us. But then the ‘dark days’ happened.”
How Madam Highfield said ‘dark days’, Alice knew she was expected to know what she was talking about. Alice took a deep breath in, as she scribbled a question mark beside the words on her pages.
“After that, our world was never the same.” Madam Highfield explained. “The humans learnt of our existence and the council decided to enchant the academy for future wizards and witches could have a safe place.”
Madam Highfield made her way behind her desk. She locked her eyes with Alice, liked she knew Alice had much to learn. Madam Highfield continued her lecture, talking about how the academy came to being.
Alice kept her head down. She dudled on the page, remembering the anistal at the end of the letter. The capital ‘N’ looked different than she had ever seen, staying in her mind. She traced the N onto the side of her paper, as the class passed by.
Charming down the halls of the academy, the class ended. Alice and Gloria walked out of Madam Highfield’s classroom. Lucia and Justin walked behind them, joining them down the staircase.
